Blinded Eyes
by curlychic74
Summary: Romantic suspense. Stalker is let loose from prison and plans to finish what he started.


Blinded Eye

By Lynn Allison

_4 Years Earlier…_

Cassie saw him again. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear he was following her. In the past three weeks she had noticed him outside her place of work, in the halls at the college and now he was across the street from her house. He seemed to be everywhere that she was. Far too often for it to be just a coincidence.

"Mom?"

"What Michael?" she asked.

"You ok? You look like you've seen a ghost…" he replied.

"Yeah I'm fine. Go get ready...dad will be here shortly."

Michael, her oldest son, looked at her and he knew she was lying to him but said nothing. It had been just Cassie and the two boys since she split with their dad. Her youngest Holden had been just about to turn one when the bastard cheated on her with some barely legal girl. Cassie had been young and apparently stupid enough to believe that he had truly loved her as he said he did. Who was she kidding? She should have known better.

Cassie decided to call her friend Mandy up and hit the karaoke bar instead of sitting home alone all night. It had been months since she'd been out with Mandy or anyone else for that matter. After talking to Mandy, Cassie showered and dressed. Glancing around the house one last time, she left to meet Mandy.

"Girl, it has been way too long! When you gonna stop hiding yourself away like your some kind of nun?" Mandy teased. Cassie laughed, "As soon as you stop acting like a hoochie momma! And we all know that isn't gonna happen." Cassie pushed her key into the lock and swung the apartment door open. As the girls stepped into the apartment, something connected with the side of Cassie's head. Her last memory of that night was Mandy screaming her name and then darkness surrounded her.

**Chapter 1**

_Present day:_

"What? How the hell did this happen?" she asked.

"I don't know Cassie but I will fix this I swear to you I will!" Detective Daniels replied.

Hanging up the phone, Cassie peeked out of her office windows into the busy street. She wasn't much on religion but she silently pleaded with God to help her if he found her again. She suspected she wouldn't survive this time. In fact, she knew with certainty that if he was out there again, he would find her and he would finish the job he started. Cassie trembled with fear as that thought passed through her head.

Cassie sat watching the first snow fall of the season. Reluctantly she returned her attention to her computer. She hated this job but it paid the bills and allowed her the time she needed for her kids. Her boss Jack popped his head into her office. "Hey Cassie, how's it going? Have I got a surprise for you!" he said. "Jack, please, I'm in no mood for surprises today. These accounts are so screwed up, it isn't funny!" she grumbled.

"Oh you're gonna love me for this Cassie" Jack smiled.

Opening her door wider, Jack stepped aside allowing two men to walk into her office. Cassie swore she stopped breathing. Holy crap, she thought. It was two of the six members of the band Blinded Eyes. Feeling the heat prickle her face, she slowly regained her composure so not to look like a crazed fan. And there he was…standing in her office less than five feet from her. 'Oh, am I dying and no one told me?' she thought. Cassie quickly stood to shake their hands and tried her best not to make direct eye contact with him. Lord, a woman could have an orgasm just watching this man walk. Garrison McKean was a tall, lean, pierced and tattooed rock god. She stole a quick glance to see Garrison's piercing green eyes staring back at her. Standing next to him was his band mate Holden Ellison almost identical in looks except Garrison was blonde.

Garrison watched the woman with interest. She shook their hands politely enough but failed to even really look at them. Weird, he thought, most women don't react like that when they meet him. He stepped back and took her all in. Cassie was a petite woman with the craziest red hair he'd ever seen. When he caught her peeking at him, it was long enough for him to spot the reason she chose not to lift her head completely. Part of her face had scarring and there had obviously been damage done to her right eye. While one eye was crystal blue, the other was almost deprived of color. Garrison glanced at Holden to see if he had seen her face and by the look on Holden's face, it was obvious he had.

"Hello, it's very nice to meet you", she said.

"I'm Garrison and this joker over here is Holden. So Jack says you're a pretty smart chic and we kinda need your help. That is if you'll help" he pleaded. Cassie stopped what she was doing. Had she heard him right? They needed _her_ help. She looked to Jack for support before turning toward the two men and asked, "With what?"

"So it seems there is a lot of money missing from our accounts. I—I mean we, need you to find out why and where it's going" he said. Cassie looked at Garrison trying to comprehend what she just heard. "Wait, someone is stealing from you? Individually or as a group?"

Garrison and Holden quickly caught her up to date with what they knew. Their current accountant seemed to be skimming from their accounts, not only individually but the band account too. Cassie sighed, "It will take some time to find out what is going on, but yes I can find it." Jack smiled, of course Cassie will find it, he thought, she's the best there is and that's the reason she was hired.

Returning to her computer, she shut down her current project. All that would have to wait because if Jack was involved in this assignment, that meant these clients were of extreme importance. Fifteen minutes later, she sat with a mountain of paperwork the guys had brought with them when her door popped back open. Jack stood there looking at her, waiting patiently for her questions.

"Why Jack? Why would you give them to me? God, do you know how hard it was for me to have them looking at me with this face? Garrison and Holden?" she cried. Jack sighed and crossed the room to stand beside her desk. "Cassie, I gave this to you because I trust no one else with them. This is important and they need someone who won't get caught up in who they are. Don't be so hard on yourself…you are still a beautiful girl and they didn't seem startled with your appearance at all."

Cassie laughed, "Jack, its only 10 am. Isn't it too early to be drunk? And besides, they didn't really look at me…they sort of looked past me." Jack shook his head, "Stop that bullshit! One of these days Cassie, some man is gonna prove my words true. He's gonna look at you and see what I see…not those tiny little scars that you have or whatever else you think is wrong with you. All he is gonna see is who you are—a smart, funny, wonderful, beautiful girl. Now get to work, find the problem for them."

Cassie thought about what Jack had said to her. It would be easy to believe if she didn't see people stare at her and whisper behind her back. Hell, there were coworkers that still wouldn't look her in the eye four years later. As she started on the mound of paperwork Garrison had given her, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking out of her office window, Cassie froze. Garrison was standing outside the office building with Holden. She watched what seemed to be an argument between the two men when out of nowhere Garrison turned his head to look at her. Cassie's breath caught in her throat as he smiled and waved at her. Feeling stupid for being caught staring, she waved and moved from the window.

"Fuck Garrison, did you see her face? What the hell happened to her? Who would do shit like that to a woman?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out. Jack said it was worse and it's not as bad as it was. Shit, how bad was it?" Garrison replied. Holden looked at him and sighed, "What are you planning? That girl wouldn't even look at us for more than a few seconds. That is a whole lot of damn crazy baggage that you don't need right now. I mean, I'm sure she's a nice girl and all but, did you really look at her?"

Garrison stopped walking and turned to Holden. "I'm going to simply ask her to lunch. I don't know why, she's probably gonna say no. And yea I did look at HER did you?" With that said, he turned and walked back into Cassie's office building. He passed Jack's office on his way to hers and stopped. Knocking on the door, Gar opened it to find Jack eating lunch.

"You're back?"

"Yea…uh...so...I need advice. How do I—." Jack interrupted Gar, "Just ask her. Don't let her give excuses. I have been trying for three years to get her out of her shell." Gar looked at Jack unsure of how the man knew what he had been about to ask. Jack was creepy that way sometimes. He left Jack and walked to Cassie's office and knocked lightly.

Cassie looked up as Gar walked in. Surprised to find him back in her office, she figured he had forgotten to give her something. Garrison smiled at her, "Cassie you hungry? I'm gonna hit the pizza place down the street and want you to join me." She eyed him, wondering if her boss had put him up to this or if it was another cruel hoax.

"Why?" she asked. "Why not? I'm hungry….you're hungry. Let's go." he said. Cassie looked at him like he was crazy. Oh she thought, this has to be a joke but he seemed too sincere. He waited for her to refuse him and to his surprise she said yes. Lunch …it wasn't much but it was a start.

Once they sat down and ordered, Garrison turned to her and asked, "So, how long have you worked for Jack?" He already knew she'd been there for five years but it seemed a safe enough question. Cassie stared at him, not hearing what he was saying. Gar laughed and snapped his fingers. "Earth to Cassie! See something you like?" Cassie felt the heat of embarrassment creep up her neck and face. He'd caught her staring at him. "No" she answered too quickly embarrassing herself more. She stared at him while he laughed. "No need to be so embarrassed Cassie. I like what I see in front of me too" he said. Before she could respond, a voice interrupted.

"Can I join y'all?"

Cassie looked up to find that Holden had approached their table. She smiled and welcomed him. As nice as they seemed, Cassie's self doubts crept up into her brain. She couldn't understand how a girl like her was here with them. It had to be a business lunch. There is no way Garrison would ever look at her like a normal girl. Not that she was after what had happened.

"Cassie, can I ask you something? If it upsets you, please tell me to shut it" Gar asked. She turned to look at him. "What happened to you? Jack is very tight lipped about it." Cassie sighed, she had known somewhere in her mind that they would ask. She had only hoped it would be later. She lifted her eyes to meet Gar's and with tears, she told him, "Do you want the sugar coated story or the real dirty story?" Holden replied, "Tell whichever you're more comfortable with." Cassie took a breath before beginning.

"About four years ago, I had a stalker. He showed up at my work, my school, near my house; there was not a place I went that he didn't show up. I went to the local police but they couldn't do anything because he hadn't done anything to me at that point. So I went to campus police. They verified he wasn't a student so he was banned from campus. They sent a campus wide email out informing all students and faculty to report if you have seen him on school property. He was arrested the next day. Campus police backed me and I was able to get a restraining order."

Cassie paused long enough to take a drink and continued. "In the first two weeks, he violated the order a few times. The last time he decided to break it was the night he attacked me in my own home. My friend Mandy and I had just gotten home from a night out. He knocked me out the second I stepped into the house and then went after Mandy. Thankfully, my children had already left for their dad's house. I don't remember anything really other than the first hit. Things are hazy at best. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital weeks later."

They sat quietly while Cassie talked. Both men realized just how hard this must be for her to tell the story. Garrison's heart damn near stopped when Cassie began to describe her injuries. She sat quietly for a minute before gathering her strength to finish her story.

"The hospital placed me in a medically induced coma for six weeks. They thought it better that I sleep while I recovered instead of being awake and dealing with all the pain. He fractured my skull, my nose, my jaw and a few ribs. I had broken ribs and a punctured lung. There were places on my body where he'd bitten me so hard it left scarring. He raped me while I was unconscious. I had to have surgery to repair the internal damage from him. I've had many surgeries since then to try and repair but some things aren't able to be fixed. The damage to my eye is from one of the many punches to my head. The scars on my face are from him dragging his nails and tearing my skin open. I shouldn't even be here—I should be dead from blood loss. It's been four years and I still have nightmares. I haven't dated anyone—hell, I haven't done much of anything since then but work."

They sat quietly for the next few minutes and finished their lunch. Holden finally cleared his throat and said, "Holy shit Cassie. How are you still able to function? Most chics I know wouldn't be half as put together as you are." Cassie smiled at Holden and said, "I function because I have to. I keep living because if I don't, he wins. I keep going because of my kids. I can't let him ruin my life anymore. I just haven't had the guts to move beyond where I'm at." Garrison was quietly taking in her story. He finally spoke after a few more minutes.

"Cassie, you survived. Holden is right; most people wouldn't be able to cope." Cassie snorted, "That's because my therapist is a rock star; well that and some good meds. She has really helped a lot but she seems to think it's time to let everything go. And for that, I think she's crazy."

Cassie stood to leave and thanked Garrison for lunch. He walked out behind her and stopped her. "Cassie, would you have dinner with me? Just me…" Cassie stopped in her tracks; this had to be a joke. Garrison McKean was asking her to dinner. She stood silent for a moment when he said, "If the answer is no, I'll understand but that won't stop me from asking again." What the hell, she thought. Why not? Cassie called to him, "Garrison? The answer is yes. I mean, I don't know why you want to but yes." He grinned at her and walked quickly to where she was. Pulling her close, he whispered "good, you won't regret it. Until tonight Red…." Garrison left go and walked away. Cassie watched him walk to his car and turned to go into the building.


End file.
